(Part of a 12-day series fondly remembering some of the best moments in anime this year. Participants include: lolikitsune, lelangir, Owen S, FuyuMaiden, IKnight, Zeroblade, Nazarielle, ghostlightning, TheBigN, ETERNAL, Mike, A Day Without Me, digitalboy, Josh, otou-san, Culchann and Pontifus, IcyStorm, Cokematic,
koneko-chan, and miz, and you’re welcome to join too!)

Speaking of ‘my roots’, and ’shipping couples’, I’ll have to admit that shonen romances like Haruka’s Secret aren’t as far back as I go.

Rather, for those of you who are more familiar with the extended version of my username – and you really shouldn’t be, because it’s really embarrassing – Cardcaptor Sakura was my first anime, in any form. As such, I can consider it my true defining anime.

Although I haven’t seen it in my modern fansub-watching era, the fact that I watched it 3 times through (at 70 episodes apiece) gives some proof that 1) I was very obsessive in my younger days and 2) it has shaped a lot of who I am and what I watch, whether I think so or not.

As such, I have had more than a little affinity for magical girl shows; or at least the more mature of the lot. After all, what makes this genre most endearing to people like me, isn’t the rampant pinkness, or the fact that everyone’s an elementary schoolgirl, but rather the surprising depth in many of its ilk.

Although shows like Cardcaptor Sakura look like they could only be of use to those with a child’s mind, the surprising truth is that many of the themes and character interactions appeal to the older sect.

After all, how many of you liked romance when you were a kid? And yet, magical girl shows are full of couplings, sometimes not even hetero ones. And there’s this amazing concept of character development. This is what makes magical girl anime, so magical in a sense. They appeal to both your inner child and your inner adult.

But admittedly, not all magical girl anime fall into to this category. There are still those which exist only to pander to the lolicon, or those which are honestly too cutesy and fluffy for their own good (or at least for the good of a college-age male).

Shugo Chara is an interesting case to study, how it falls right on that border of the great magical girl anime.

12 Moments of Anime 2008
#10: Shugo Chara – 44

After a short phase of getting to know Shugo Chara, I was fairly quickly smitten with its ways of almost trivializing the ‘magic’ in ‘magical girl’. The raw, overwhelming power of Amu’s three transformations, for me, deemphasized the aspect of the genre I disliked – overly pink and feminine displays of shiny lights and monster-of-the-week fights.

In its place was a strong core of characters and character interaction, with what looks to be a much less predictable romance endgame. Amu’s weak yet strong character was easily endearing, and I can actually say I don’t know whether she will end up with Ikuto or Tadase (if either) in the end, much less which one is the better choice.

Such fun with character shipping, combined with the generally warm and fuzzy feel of your average episode, made Shugo Chara very much worth it for me.

And then, things began to fade. Maybe it was watching the set of bloggers following Shugo Chara get mercilessly torn apart by fangirls. Maybe it was the endless stream of filler brought on by the announcement of a second season.

But eventually, Shugo Chara had less and less importance in my anime queue. Enough to make me wonder if it really was, as I claimed, the “magical girl for the 21st century”.

Luckily, I am somewhat of a blessed fan. Even though I try to lose faith in anime, try to discredit anime like Clannad ~After Story~ and Shugo Chara, more often then not my skepticism is quickly disproven.

Maybe it’s a lowering of my standards that allows anime to blow me away; an artificial improvement in the anime, as it were. But nevertheless, I’m glad such a thing can happen, to prevent me from becoming a cynic.

I think, one of the best examples was relatively recent in the Shugo Chara timeline, in episode 44. It was my first step back into the anime in months; after the high-quality stunner of a fight with Utau in the previous episode, Recap Filler wasn’t something I was looking forward to at all.

However, since I had a strong desire to catch up with the second season, I decided to push on, despite the stench of “Oh God I’ve seen this already, do they think I’m stupid or what?”

And … well … Recap Filler it was. Until the last few minutes.

That was when Kairi Sanjou decided he’d make this episode worth it.

Kairi has always been, probably my second-favorite Shugo Chara male character. You can imagine why – glasses plus a cool demeanor (not to mention green hair) always is a good combination, almost reminiscent of Eriol from Cardcaptor Sakura.

And so I enjoyed the time with him on screen, especially as he played his double-role as Easter agent and Amu fanboy (er, Guardian). But as the time ticked down on his part, with his last episode – a filler episode – looking to be rather weak.

This was rather a shame for me; my true favorite in the show, Nagehiko, was already long gone, shipped away to Somewhere Else Land despite being, probably one of the more complex, and more intriguing characters, almost Tomoyo-like in nature. I was extremely tempted to put in her (his) last episode (the 24th) as the Shugo Chara moment instead … as that one was solid all the way through.

This moment was more intriguing for its placement and punch. Right as Kairi’s ready to step out of the show for a good long time, he says two things…

“I’m ahead of you, Tadase.”
“Amu Hinamori, I love you. Always and forever, I love you. One day, when I become a suitable man, I’ll come back for you.”

It’s enough to make any girl swoon~! Since I was feeling more masculine at the moment, I had to resort to fistpumping and raising my hands (’it’s good~’) to show my support of this side of Kairi. This was the Kairi that made this show better. The one that was absolute in his resolution, strong like a steel sword and every bit as sharp.

Ahaha~ even I sound like a bit of a fangirl here. Maybe I’ve gone a bit overboard, but that’s what this project is for.

I know Nagehiko’s coming back in the second season, I can only hope Kairi does too. After all, if I can be inspired to this much poetic fangirl ranting, at the end of a filler episode, who knows what other things Shugo Chara might bring us in the future?

-CCY

It’s quite ironic that shortly after a lengthy meta-post on how side characters tend to have their characteristics amplified (since they only usually have a single one) to the point that their image eclipses their true merit, I find myself stumbling upon the a similar concept in characters, and that is ending the lifespan of a character early.

Thankfully for our sanity, I mean that only in the chronological sense in Shugo Chara, as a character is removed from the plotline not by force, but by circumstances, but still it circles around to the same point, as suddenly I find myself wishing for a lot more of said character.

It’s probably something about how we always desire more than we have, and since side characters and those who don’t stick around for the full series get less screentime, we wish they had more attention paid to them, and take to flying the banner for them as a way of pseudo-protest. But I’m no psychology major.

What I am is very glad that Shugo Chara is restoring (or keeping, at least) my faith in its cast and in the genre as a whole. I’ve found the magical girl genre to be bar none the best for establishing a mood of warm fuzziness, with a level of sweetness that can stir hearts without rotting teeth.

Shugo Chara has this done pretty well in having more than just a lot of pink and shiny transformations, adding in some great character dynamics and development that really show just why shows like Cardcaptor Sakura can hit it so big in being appealing to viewers both young and old.

To me, Shugo Chara really feels like the Cardcaptor Sakura, like the definitive magical girl show, of this decade, and the most recently released episode, the 25th, only reinforces this belief.

(Pretty major character spoilers, be forewarned.)

I went into this episode not expecting a whole lot. Having been spoiled on the fact that Nadeshiko is a guy from early on, I had been long dreading the big reveal as destroying the refined character that is Nadeshiko.

Traps don’t tend to make very appealing characters and are often played off for comedy – the infamous Mako-cakes from Minami-ke is one example. Having a character whose gender-swapping adds dynamics to the plot is quite rare, and as a result I was quite surprised at Nadeshiko’s excellent form in this episode.

Perhaps this is also due to the fact I was expecting a blunt reveal along the lines of Hamaji’s “Hey look what I have, Takuma!” – a bit of a stretch but essentially what the scene was conveying – but rather, Nadeshiko … or I suppose, I should begin to call her – him – Nagehiko … didn’t really ever come out and out and say it, instead opting for some subtle hints and passing himself off as “Nadeshiko’s twin brother”.

It’s just as smooth as we’ve come to expect from the guardian’s best mediator, who’s always mature and ready to offer a helping hand or some sound advice. (Hilarious yandere Character Change notwithstanding.)

The male side to Nagehiko is really just as classy and doubly entertaining, as shown in this episode, where he coyly flirts with Amu while guiding her confused mind along the right path. In a sense it’s dramatic irony done right, where the audience knows – or at least, should begin to figure out – that Amu’s the only one locked out of the loop here.

This allows for Nagehiko to play the role of the friendly outsider and start the relationship from ’scratch’, and the dynamics of how Amu interacts with Nagehiko in his male and female forms look to be quite interesting to watch.

Sensibly, when it’s Nadeshiko, things like holding hands and having heart-to-heart discussions are natural and a sign of friendship, and Amu is likely quite more receptive to feedback when it comes from a friend instead of a love rival. But Nagehiko gets to be more flirty as the same actions have a romantic overtone when it’s between a guy and a girl, which flusters Amu’s already conflicted heart.

It’s a great contrast to see just how the gender relations change things, even when one side of the equation – Nadeshiko and her mature demeanor – remains constant.

Doubly so when you try to consider how Nagehiko is approaching Amu as well; is she a friend either way? Has he, as a guy and a girl, always been approaching Amu as a love interest? Or does it depend on his persona? It’s just as much a mystery as to Amu’s feelings themself, and I only wish Nagehiko was around more so that we could find out.

The way I talk about Nagehiko the more and more he sounds like a Tomoyo parallel as well; the classy demeanor, the helping hand always available, the ability to know just a bit more than everyone else in the situation. It’s well known that Tomoyo subtly pined for Sakura in the romantic sense; could Nagehiko repeat the same story, except with a more legitimate shot at being truly considered? (Because, in the end, you tend to see more canon heterosexual pairings.)

No doubt it would probably end the same way, with Nagehiko backing off to clear the path for Tadase, Ikuto, or possibly both (Amu is just throwing Kukai in her daydreams for completion’s sake) to claim Amu’s heart.

All I can hope for is this scenario before the show ends; Nagehiko will hopefully be back with time to spare before the end of the series, and if she can keep up this character balancing act, she might be just as intricate, entertaining, and personal a character as Amu has proved to be over the course of Shugo Chara.

Although, if I were Amu and had the choice right now, even Ikuto pales to the appeals of Nagehiko.

I’ve always thought that traps could never be taken seriously, could never be as full and developed a character as those with less to hide (as the whole reasoning behind gender-swapping tends not to be horribly expounded on), but once again a bias has been smashed.

Nagehiko proves that traps can be done in a enjoyable yet touching manner, and Shugo Chara proves that a good shoujo show can make any character archetype (as diverse as shoujo shows tend to be) into a well-rounded, empathetic personality.

As Shugo Chara turns over into its second half, I look forward to seeing this trend of blending the blacks and whites of a personality, seen clearly in Nikaidou and hinted at for Ikuto, to continue with the many other characters of the show, as nothing is more entertaining and more real than a story with no true villains and no true heroes, just a bunch of people with real conflicts and real personalities.

-CCY

(I’ve got a MyAnimeList now to document my relatively pitiful amount of anime viewing. Oooh, ahhh. I’ve started a little mini-blog over there as well – Mini Megane Moe – for brief episode commentary, a la the dead Track Two feature. You can access it on the right-hand bar.)

And now for the Slowpoke news: we’re in the winter season.

I’m still stuck in the past, not because of any traumatic accidents which have permanently scarred me and/or my memory, but because the fall season is arguably a much more robust season than the winter ones, at least in terms of new shows.

Especially for a visual novel slash romance slash restricted rock-paper-scissors fan like me, there were a lot of shows that were very appealing; many of them, despite being in tried and tired genres, brought a lot of fresh concepts to the table.

And what’s interesting about this, is that unlike in the summer season, a lot of the most promising shows didn’t close out at twelve episodes. Those that did, were strong shows, no doubt, but many more than that have been promised at least 20-odd episodes, double the goodness if they can keep the pace up.

As such, the winter watchlist is turning out to be strangely familiar. There are plenty of carryover shows on the list, and those that are new shows to 2008 are mostly sequels in some way or form (Zoku SZS, Minami Okawari). Not to leave a bad impression of the winter season – but there aren’t any names of new shows that really stand out from it.

This doesn’t equate with ‘no good shows’, per se – some of my favorite fall shows have been ones that have been completely off the radar – but going off the blog reactions so far, there hasn’t been a standout show that absolutely blows people away, that came out of nowhere and delivered the awesome. Undoubtedly there probably will be, but for now I’m content with surviving off both fresh old shows, and some true classics that are burning a hole in my DVD collection. Today, I’ll take a look at what we have to expect from some of the shows coming into their second cour in 2008.

Shugo Chara!
Understandably, Shugo Chara! was a show that wasn’t exactly on my radar when the season started. Even if I was born and raised on Cardcaptor Sakura, magical girl shows aren’t always my cup of tea, and I usually rely on feedback from other blogs to pick out the subsets of this genre that would be my type. In that sense, I’m a sort of elitist for magical girls – I tend to prefer only the ones that have an appeal to both genders, those that carry ‘feminine’ traits such as romance and a lowered focus on action, yet don’t come off as too girly. I do have a pink tolerance still, despite all these years of anime watching.

Anyway, Shugo Chara! got a surprising amount of good feedback from placed that I read a lot, namely Jeff Lawson’s and Owen’s locales, and so it was an essential “here goes nothing” while I was scraping the bottom of the barrel one day. As has been detailed, the first few episodes were a bit too pink for my tastes, but contained enough interesting stuff to keep my interest, so I forged on; and man, am I glad I did.

It seems a bit pretentious to both proclaim it the next Cardcaptor Sakura or even compare it to that show at all, considering how times have changed a lot in the 21st century, but there’s no doubt that Shugo Chara! has the potential to be THE magical girl show of this decade. I can’t speak for other popular shows, such as the PreCure series or whatnot, but certainly SC seems to have the wide appeal and fanbase to make it big.

The animators seem to know this too, as the show has been slated for one of the longer continuous runs in recent memory, topping 50 episodes, and this is something that, naturally, is good and bad. The good is of course more of what we love, more of this show and it’s entertaining character dynamics. The bad is that, since there doesn’t appear to be a huge amount of content for the manga, there’s going to end up being a lot of filler in the show, ergo, not as much of the entertaining character dynamics. (Not to mention, it’d be a pain to blog.)

What, personally, deserves the most focus is the quickly-shaping romance tetrahedron of sorts, forming between Amu, Tadase, Ikuto, and Utau. Of course, saying this is a bit simplified; Amu’s torn between the goodly Tadase and the dark Ikuto, Tadase’s smitted with Amu’s transformed self, Ikuto’s busy being the guy equivalent of tsundere (Shiraishi’s “cool-dere” comes to mind), and Utau is mysteriously possesive a la Primula (that suddenly explains a lot for Stripey’s fandom of Utau), and all these facts add up to make the romance side of this story a bit more appealing than your standard ‘will-she-won’t-she’ love story.

The magical girl elements of SC are a bit overdone, personally, as Amu seems to be able to hax any X Character into submission without barely breaking a sweat, but this might just be the show’s way of deemphasizing these aspects in favor of it’s stronger romantic and slice-of-life elements.

So what’s to look for in the upcoming episodes of Shugo Chara? To be honest, I’m worried that the answer is ‘not much’ – different shows handle their mid-sections in different ways, but Shugo Chara! has a lot of time to burn, and so it might not be doing much in the way of developing character relations in the near future. Hopefully it will be like many recent shows and not delay the love confessions until the end.

Although, regarding that, what’s really keeping me interested in this anime (aside from denying cute traps) is that I can’t really decide who Amu’s going to ‘win’ at the end…presuming she does at all. Both Tadase and Ikuto have their appeals, both to Amu and to the viewer, and it’s not as clear-cut as other shows which one will end up being the ‘main’ guy. Tadase is undoubtedly the more traditional choice, being the good guy who fights along her, but Ikuto’s been getting a lot of attention recently, and being the somewhat rebellious yet soft-hearted personality he is, I can’t help but root for him.

Oh, and the mysterious evil motives of Easter, I suppose I have a little vested interest in; who knows if it will be some typical “parents vs. kids” endeavor or not. I can’t get a lock on this either.

Shakugan no Shana II
Shana II was not exactly the most popular anime around the blogosphere recently, having eschewed it’s action and love-triangle aspects for more of a repetitive drama that failed to be really engaging. But with the recent episodes having kicked the series full throttle ahead, it might be time to pick up interest in the show again.

For me, Shana II has always been a show that was sort of a bread-and-butter watch – something it would be a little painful, other times a little more intriguing, but most of the time it was relatively typical supernatural-action-romance fare, with the action part just getting into gear now. However, with some of the plot points that I think lie ahead, both involving a few Torches (accidental spoilers, whee) and the story of Pheles and the Reiji Maigo, Shana II might have an opportunity to prove itself more than that, and show that the hype for this show isn’t just irrational love for melon-bread-eating tsunderes.

In that regard, it might have actually been a wise decision in the end for the beginning parts of Shana II to be so slow; it could be considered that the animation team was merely getting the filler out of the way so that the rest of the show can be exciting from here on out. Maybe not a good business decision, but if it holds true it will be promising for the second half of Shana.

As for what will happen in what episodes remain, I don’t really know. I’m really unfamiliar with this series as a whole, and so what I can say is that there will be a lot of fighting, a few romantic scenes, and a lot of terminology spamming to come. It’s pretty cut-and-dry that Shana and Yuuji are into each other, but I can’t decide whether we’ll get true confessions and conclusion with this season, considering the retcon we got this time. If there is enough material for Shana III, that aspect might just be held back on. Kazumi doesn’t look like she has much to go on; we already know she likes Yuuji, and now she’s in that limbo between backing off and going on the attack, neither which would really suit her. As such, I think all she’s good for so far is some romantic insights, what with her virtues of patience and all.

And so my hopes for this show lie with Ike for reasons too numerous to count. He’s your glasses-sporting “just as planned” smart guy, he’s gotten shafted through the whole cultural festival arc, and he seems pretty level-headed and likable as a whole. Not to mention, he’s shooting for the moon in going after Kazumi, who even he knows prefers Yuuji; he’s effective working off a rationale of ‘well Yuuji likes Shana, so someone’s got to be there to catch Kazumi’.

I really hope he gets his fair share of screentime considering how much he’s been made fun of recently, as I think he could be a really strong character. I’m hoping they have time to fit him in among all the more standard storyline fun with the green-haired ladies.

Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji
I think I will forever tout this as the reason why blog hype is important; I would not go within a million miles of a show featuring ugly men (and no moe girls) fighting it out in rock-paper-scissors, yet undoubtedly some of the latest arcs of this show have been nothing short of stunning.

It’s funny; what makes this show work is that it’s not pure macho, nor pure mindgames, but sort of a mix of both, and then some. There are moments that make you think, there are moments that make your blood boil, and sometimes, there are even moments that make you tear up. Sometimes, there are all three at once. I mean, for the love of whatever deity I worship now, I thought Aozora was going to start playing during Ishida’s scene in episode fourteen. It was absolutely wrecking, in that way that made you contemplate the nature of man while crying manly tears and shouting “ISHIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”.

Kaiji rivals the best of the visual novel genre in having disturbingly touching insights; while those deal more with the romantic irrationality of man, Kaiji goes more into the nitty-gritty stuff. The difference between the haves and have-nots, the wants and want-nots, how everyone is selfish in being kind and kind in being selfish. (A bit of a stretch, but I heart parallelism)

And it’s a great mix of predictability and unpredictability as well. You know that Kaiji isn’t going to win millions every time soon, but you know they can’t quite kill him off either. You know that he’s going to work his way out of this hole somehow, but fall back into another. It keeps the mind racing, and to be honest, I still don’t know how the Brave Men Road is going to come out. We know he’s not doing to die. So what is he going to do to get rid of the money? I’m guessing give it all to Ishida’s wife, because there’s got to be another yakuza-sponsored game on the horizon; the other aspect that keeps it interesting. It’s that ‘what will they think of next?’, both in the fourth-wall and in the storyline sense.

It’s that strange mix of disgust and delight when you see the shoving in Brave Men Road, that puts you disturbingly close to the action, in a similar position as the ‘rich bastards’. It’s eerie in a sense, how unwittingly we are becoming like them, being the viewers watching something like this for pleasure. It ties you into the show like what nearly no other show can do, and so that’s why I can reccomend Kaiji as one of the top shows – especially if you hate moe – of the fall season.

KimiKiss Pure Rouge
For as many times as I’ve used this phrase, KimiKiss is one of the shows that I think could most fit the idea of being ‘unpredictably predictable.’ It’s a very vanilla show in a sense, one that’s refreshingly down-to-earth and real, and at first the romance seemed pretty much a straight shot. It could be easily seen how Kouichi will be with Yuumi, how Mao will end up with Mai, and how Kazuki will snag Eriko.

But, since this show is so multi-threaded, it’s easy to see how these threads will intertwine as well. The show seems to be dropping plenty of hits of possibly tying Mao and Kouichi together. Plus, it’s tough to tell whether Asuka or Eriko is the true girl for Kazuki.

Let’s go with the latter first. Eriko is probably the more likely shot – on-screen kisses aren’t taken lightly these days, and it seems all too sensible to have the romance with Kazuki be the thing to introduce Eriko to the world of emotion – I would say break her out of her shell, but Owen has another way of putting that.

Still, like in Shugo Chara’s similar dilemma, I can’t help but root for Asuka, the underdog here. It just seems wrong that the one who seems to be more passionate will lose, although I think that instead of Asuka winning here, she will just get some major development instead. She seems the strong, fiercely independent type, and she could definitely learn how to fly on her own with her love for soccer instead of Kazuki.

Mao and Kouichi’s situation is even tougher to call. Certainly it seems like it would be impossible to break the romantic bonds between Kouichi and Yuumi, given the collective amount of time they’ve stared at each other. And certainly it seems hard to split Kai and Mao, who seem the reverse of the Eriko – Kazuki situation; Kai is an interesting character, the ‘frequently misunderstood delinquent’ type that’s cold, but has a big heart.

But there still remains that possibility that Mao and Kouichi will in the end, be together; after all, she had to come back from France for a reason, and the anime has certainly dropped more than a few hints. I could see how Kai could live independently, like how Azuka could. And Yuumi could – could, the imperative word – be removed from the story with her moving away.

But that’s the catching point, that it would just seem too sad for her to be alone; she doesn’t look like she has a fallback, she seems much more emotionally invested in Kouichi. Enough to nearly clinch the ‘with enough effort, you’ll win’ romance award, but not enough to go yandere. So somehow I think Kouichi and Yuumi is the most likely combo, which will probably set Mao up with Kai. I wonder, if maybe Mao will be the one who has to understand who her true feelings are for.

(Oh, and don’t leave Hiiragi and Mamiko Noto out of the picture, either.)

There’s a lot to think about for such a simple-looking show, which is why KimiKiss is one of the strongest romances running so far. I look forward to seeing how it can do so much with so little in the future.

Clannad
Visual novels are probably the toughest shows to predict for, which is why I enjoy them so much. Others may not be as fond of the wild, rampant plot twists and overly idealized characters that these shows frequently make use of, but this is probably an issue of cliche more than anything else.

The visual novel genre is full of them, with childhood friends left and right throwing themselves at some undoubtedly bland guy. That’s probably part of the reason why I’ve always been a fan of the Key shows – AIR, Kanon, and now Clannad – because they do things differently.

Yeah, a lot of things are the same. Everyone’s still love-love toward one guy, and most of them have a history with him, but it’s not always about that. Clannad is a show that feels more balanced – it’s not just romance, but it’s comedy, it’s not just about the girls, it’s about Tomoya as well, and when it is about the girls, it’s more about them discovering themselves rather than their affections for Tomoya. In that sense it really is a show that anybody can enjoy.

The beginning episodes and the Fuuko arc were a great representation of this; people left and right both enjoyed the comedy, and when it came down to things, spouted fountains of tears at her story. Despite its somewhat derivate roots of Ayu, Fuuko’s arc managed to work well because it wasn’t just straight Tomoya – Fuuko interaction, but since it also involved Nagisa both helping them and helping herself.

Nagisa’s probably the reason why Clannad works, in that despite her soft, pushover personality she’s a very strong character all her own, and a great complement to Tomoya. She’s not one-tenth as adorable as Kotomi or Ryou, but that might be exactly the reason why: she’s more of a real character, with real thoughts and emotions, instead of a cardboard moe cutout. Yet she doesn’t renounce those roots either.

Recently I think the anime has slumped a bit with Kotomi’s arc – I love her character, her story’s interesting and all, but it’s just so typical. I think any visual novel anime could pull the ‘reclusive childhood friend with dead parents’ concept off, since it just seems so perfect storm, the sort of dream that any lonely guy would wish to have, to be the only one there for a girl like that. Clannad needs to be different.

Luckily, I think we’re getting into the best parts of the show, with what arcs we have left. Despite not knowing anything about the show, I have high hopes that Fuuko and Kotomi, as interesting as their arcs may be, will be utterly shamed by the powers of the three (four) girls remaining.

Tomoyo’s always been a riot in character, and she looks to have the story to back it up, if it involves her trying to change the way she’s seen, like it sounds so far. It’s definitely potential for her to develop a lot on her own, into a strong person.

Kyou and Ryou are perhaps a more typical bunch but one I’m much more willing to fall for than Kotomi. Kyou is a great personality, with her light-hearted, flirtatious attiude absolutely captivating, combined with more of a sisterly love for Ryou, equaling something fierce. Ryou, well, she’s a mix of Shiori and Tsukasa, and that I’m willing to overcome any sense of logic for. I just wonder what their story could be about, and that’s what really interests me.

And of course, we’ll close with Nagisa, where it really could go any way in the world. Whether they expand more on her story or Tomoya’s story, them or their parents, the real world or the imaginary one, time can only tell. I can only hope it will be legendary like everyone is making it out to be – right now, it is a good show, but the potential astounds me.

-CCY

Looking forward…

1/23/08: Episodes 14 + 15
Show ▼

1/16/08: Episode 13
Show ▼

Click here for more information on Track Two.

-CCY

So I gave Shugo Chara a try and I ended up waking up in a gutter the next morning with half my teeth missing. It was just that sugary.

Granted there were a lot of appealing aspects that looked like they could be turned into something good, but the rest of the show was so drowned in Bishie Catguys, LOL Fangirls, and Hay Guys English is Cool abuse, that I didn’t see them being able to overcome the flaws.

Remember, coming from a guy who liked Cardcaptor Sakura and Nanatsuiro Drops.

Naturally, however, since (with very few exceptions) first episodes never click with me I forged on with Shugo Chara into the second and third episodes and found things improved – or at least changed – to an extent.

And my quick judgment would be that Shugo Chara is a passable show that’s worth trying, especially if you – and even if you don’t – have the fortitude to stand more pink than a barrel full of Kirbies.

“What do you want with my eggs?”

Well, first off, one begins to wonder what exactly the target audience is; sometimes Shugo Chara goes into lapses of Moetan, at least to dirty-minded members-of-teh-interwebs like me. It’s certainly strange, considering that a large part of the cast, and the audience, are probably elementary schoolers, but I suppose that these moments are innocent seeming and played straight enough (on the relative scale of anime) to be ignored.

And the story that these moments bring is welcome, actually; Ikuto, despite being fangirl bait – complete with a cat-ears transformation~nya – looks to be a good type of “antagonist”. While some shows like this paint it very black-and-white (i.e. Me Good, You Bad), a large number of them have refreshingly human anti-villians.

Y’know how it is: they’re not evil, just misunderstood. They just want to be loved. And while on paper it sounds tacky it’s not something I wholly dislike; having two sides to every story is something that can really add depth to an anime.

As such Ikuto’s pent-up romantic tension combined with his casual and cool demeanor doesn’t make him too horrible a character, but rather one I’d like to see more of, even if he does go around licking eggs.

Amu, the incredible pink heroine, is very much the same way, and I have a feeling seeing the parallels being drawn between characters in Shugo Chara will be one of its strongest aspects. Amu is your typical young girl conflicted between her true personality and the face she wants to put on for the world; being romantic, friendly, or arguably anything short of Eriko Futami is something that she “doesn’t” want to be.

Naturally of course she has these inner urges to be romantic, and friendly, and everything, but since her classmates seem so attracted to her “cool and spicy” personality there’s not much she can do.

This is where the “Guardian Chara” come in, incredibly chibi figments of her imaginary, not limited by (imaginary) social constraints self. They each fit in with a different personality – or a different trait or something (there’s cooking, drawing, and athletics). They have the power to change Amu’s personality on a whim, which results in much moments where Amu will suddenly become a different person and say something completely shocking (we got a confession in the first episode, oh yes we did~) before turning back straight into tsundere mode.

Tsundere mode Amu isn’t too grating either, due to the fact that she is not completely baited by random pictures and info of her loved one. Overall Amu’s character, as tacky and cliched as it probably sounds, is still one that a lot of people could relate with – any shy person who’s ever wanted to stand out, any stand-out person who just wants to fly under the radar, anyone who wants to be someone they’re not but can’t, will find a lot to like in Shugo Chara.

The downside of this all, however, is that being a show aimed at ten-year-old girls with a message like the above, Shugo Chara isn’t very subtle and almost seems like it’s beating you over the head with the “just be yourself!” attitude.

I mentioned it in a comment once, in that while Cardcaptor Sakura projects more of a feel-good, warm mood that happens to maybe have an underlying meaning (”zettai daijoubu!”), Shugo Chara has this moralistic feel to it. This might be because we have little chibi things squeaking out the show’s message, or maybe it’s because of the whole theme of ‘eggs’ and ‘X eggs’ and ‘never give up in your dreams’ that rubbed me the wrong way.

After the third episode this issue doesn’t seem as bad as originally percieved, but I still feel that it has a little work to do in that department.

Some other aspects give off a strange feel as well, like the school fangirl power of “Amu can do no wrong! Teeheehee!”, but maybe that’s just because I am limited by said social constraints of “pink is Not Manly, thus it is bad.”

So maybe that just means critics like me should need this show the most.

I fully plan to continue with Shugo Chara but perhaps with a bit more subdued enjoyment than those singing the praises for this show. This show could swing one way or the other at the moment, it remains to be seen whether it will remain interesting for those looking for something different and mature in a magical girl anime.

And by that, I don’t mean all the dirty egg jokes.
-CCY
(No, not getting the OP stuck in my head. Ever. Nuh-uh. I won’t accept it. Not going to hop step jump~ Gaaaaah!)